


Behind the sea.

by Noctomata



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: A little bit of angst, AU, Concerned Cor, Dissociation, Fate & Destiny, Fear of compromise, Fisherman Noctis, Fluff, Forbidden Love, Gift, Japanese Dub In Character Selection, Lovely Father Regis, M/M, Magic, Merman Ignis, Noctis is still a prince, NonHuman!Ignis, Not an english native-speaker, Prince Charming - Freeform, Quotes from Episode Ignis, Shapeshifter, Sorry for the grammar, Sweet, True Love, clashing cultures, finfolk, ignoct white day exchange, magical creature au, mermaids/mermen, merman prompto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 10:54:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14055405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noctomata/pseuds/Noctomata
Summary: The sea murmurs in the voices of the finfolks, magical creatures that aren't friendly or romantic. Driven by their interest in magic, silver and... humans?After some self imposed solitude, Ignis decides (with a little help of Prompto) that he as well wants his human "pet", so, abduction planned, they swim to surface to found not any human but one with the whole sea in his beautiful eyes.Can Ignis follow the steps of his whole race and just take his prey with him without asking any questions or will the prey would be more than just that?Maybe that hammering sound in his chest is just for being a first-timer and not what humans call "love"...Right?





	1. Silver Crumbs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Thayes](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Thayes).



> I am very sorry this arrived late for you Thayes. I can't apologize enough Im sure you were waiting for it and I just...Im really sorry. I spent a lot of time at work recently and I forgot to translate it since im actually not an native english speaker? I know its not an excuse and I don't meant it to be one... 
> 
> I just really hope you like it. I tried to include all your requests and I hope it its enjoyable at least! Im sorry to for my lack of habilities with the grammar. My beta reader fell asleep! Ill fix them later, I promise!
> 
> Happy White Day, wherever you are, friend!

\- I don’t know who you are anymore. – A pair of eyes that didn’t own a concrete color, diluted on the nothing, looked back to him tired and emotionless. – Sometimes I don’t even remember how things were before. –

A sleepy tingle crawled inside his system, exhausted of trying to exist. Ignis blinked slowly, trying to center in that place in the universe in where he was placed.

He took his hands to his face and the silver mirror which he was trying to maintain a conversation with, did the same at a pace that seemed to him like it was out of phase, as if his reflection was so done by then, that imitating him had him jaded and he would prefer to get distracted instead of keep doing that horrible and tedious labor.

He was just about to continue with that monologue that was starting to root in between his routine and where it was showing already the first early blooms with the shape of a new habit, when without any announcement Prompto appeared on the metallic reflection.

\- What is it Iggy? Feeling blue? – His blond hair waved with a softness that belonged to the tranquil waves of the morning, his golden freckles throwing little sparkles every time the light, that dived until reaching them touched them, making his smile even more dazzling.  

Ignis didn’t bothered to turn his body to him in that complicated coral seat of his, looking him instead, fatigued, through the mirror.

\- I’m just tired. I think…- A pause that was only interrupted by the ultrasound that the water made by moving appeared. Ignis contemplated the idea of coming clean to the kid.

His blue eyes contrasted too much with his tail. The fin at the end that went up and down in an instinctive yet childish act, allowing him to be at enough height so he could be at the same level of his eyes, distracted him inevitably.

He remembered his own childhood, many sunsets ago and decided to stop avoiding the subject and finally teach Prompto how to change the color of that scandalous crimson tail. Sometimes, it surprised him how the youngfolk managed so he wouldn’t be captured or even killed.

Again, he got lost in his thoughts without noticing, getting back into that moment only by feeling the ethereal weight of the younger on his shoulders. He observed his hands first and then allowed him to guide his sight into the mirror, here the Ignis who has tired of that life filled with complete shortcomings, gave him back the sensation of absence that chased him every breath he pulled.

\- Look at yourself Iggy. – He practically raised that mischievous blond and now, vulnerable, he could see a mirage of himself in the patient tone he with which the other one was using to talk to him. A memory mitigated by the dissociation he was carrying and the murmur of the ocean. – Are you gonna tell me that the absence of color is only because of tiredness? You always picked discrete colors for your tail… but, what about your eyes? Even in the most turquoise waters they seem dull. –

Resigned and feeling trapped, he put his hand over of the one of his protegee. There weren’t any options left beside confessing.

\- I… have been getting… this sensation of… -He thought about it a bit. His own voice sounding strange and disgustingly timid even to himself. The same after taste that that bitter distilled of a sea urchin left the morning after. – Empty. – He concluded with the sensation of not being him who was speaking.

His eyes fixed on the ones that belonged to the Ignis in the mirror, that vocalized at the same time than him, like a cheap imitation.

\- Have thought about going up? – Both men looked to the ceiling the skylight that wasn’t anything more than an air bubble that reflected solar light gifting them a dancing image of the island that wasn’t very far at all. – They are quite cute! –

\- Marriage? – This time he turned in his seat, to face him, squaring up like every other time he heard that word that traveled among the halls of Finfolkaheem daily. – I don’t think so. –

Prompto observed with amusement the disgusted expression that appeared on the older one face, now more than decided to take him to the Superior Terrarium.

\- Nobody said you _have_ to get married, Iggs. – He fell on his back without any hesitation, stretching with his arms crossed behind his neck, the water holding his weight like it was nothing, allowing him to float in the middle of the room. – Why don’t you just get one? At least for a while. Then, if you get bored and you don’t want to keep them anymore you can just… erase their memories or just get rid of them. Is not for nothing that you are the best sorcerer here. If I were you I would use my powers at the smallest chance! – A pout appeared on the salmon colored lips of the blond without him noticing it. – The only thing I can do is to attract very small fishes. No that it helps me to do anything beside making them bring me stuff. -He sighed, disappointed on his own abilities. – I can’t even turn into a human by myself! For you, attracting one must be a piece of cake! –

Ignis thought about his daily tasks and he couldn’t find any excuse to say no to what Prompto was asking. After all, maybe the fact that at his age he hasn’t acquire at least **_one_** being from the surface was something so rare that there wasn’t even one precedent registered.

\- I don’t know how to do it. – The words pouring out of his mouth in a bubble that was already impossible to burst.

Prompto took his hand again, leading him slowly but steady without any other word out of his seat, out of the room, out of the hall, the city and his own comfort zone. The crystal halls disappearing in the distance, hiding into the luminescence of the algae and the corals that decorated the gardens in a perpetual sensation of heartwarming welcome and home.


	2. A daydream spills.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ignis took his first step? How will everything turn up now that he decided what to do?

They swam no more than an hour, until the blond stopped near a lonely anomaly that interrupted the precious aquamarine like a disgusting stain on a pristine canvas.

\- It’s a boat. – He said, standing by his side, pointed at the shadow above them. – A small one. There can’t be more than two people in there. – He gestured with his hand, inviting him to get closer. – How about we look and if you like one of them we bring them here? There isn’t anybody near here, so it can’t be that hard. –

Ignis nodded, the theory on the subject of Upper Terrarium Abduction, carved on his skull since he was a little kitfolk.

He has never seen one of those in the actual surface before. All those humans who he had any contact were nothing more than finfolk pets, picked by his comrades that went up and took his reward back with them; they were already used to the life under water, purged almost in the totality of their beings from their supposedly natural habits.

He swam to the figure, stopping just before breaking the superficial tension of the water that was his home place. He remembered, suddenly, as if that piece of knowledge was waiting on the darkest part of his mind to bite him and scare him off, about a strange case that he witnessed when he just graduated the Academy: A earthling that cried when her finfolk refused to hug her in public. She fell into the crystal floor, like something inside her was broken and the shattered pieces were piercing his soul inside out.

That scared him beyond repair. What was that? She said a word on his dryland language, but his abilities weren’t that polished back then for he to understand.

Nevertheless, now, he knew perfectly well the meaning of the word. And how well he understood it, it terrified him. That word was: “ ** _Love_** _”_

The finfolk were magical creatures, special and full of knowledge, but at the same time they were vain and full of themselves. Maybe it was because they were after all, children of the gods. Creations of the sea, but the idea of getting old until looking like some algae that was whipped and punished by an unforgiving storm until fading on sand, was enough motivation for everyone to be minded to do everything in their power to avoid it.

Probably, as a punishment from those same gods that shaped them, feeling superior to their constructions, trying to reaffirm their power over their perfect creations, they made that eternal damnation.

Because, for a finfolk to keep being that beautiful and with his powers intact and in the maximum display of glory, it was an obligation to look for a human mate. A human!

Mixing with those clumsy creatures, that barely discovered how to feed themselves, needing always and forever the regent luminary that marked their existence filled with ridiculous and heavy tasks, incapable of doing magic. Conformed with a pathetic substitute that they dared to call “science” with a pedantry worthy of a cataclysm. How terrible it was to try living more than what a flower deserved!

With anteriority Ignis discarded that idea, without any interest in his physical aspect, profoundly in love with the magic that circulated in his pink tinted veins. But no one ever told him about the revolting sensation of inexistence that being alone caused.

He thought before on marrying a finfolk, but that did not only warranty that he would keep his powers intact, but even raised the stakes at loosing them. As many investigations and studies demonstrated recently, and remembering this last part, he managed to reunite the courage he needed and that was missing until then to ascend.

The luminary Aurinko, walked with his thin, invisible tentacles over his straight hair, that already had a lot of time being uncapable of getting any shape, down and simple, resisting his best efforts on using a number of charms and an occasional hex that, of course, didn’t worked out. The star beginning to warm the cusp of his skull without any rush.

In front of him, he object that insulted the water wobbled between the waves and over it an earthbound was facing to the other side, hanging to a rudimentary stick that they used as a tool to catch fishes that, even if they swear it was delicious -according to his books- they were just sea creatures too stupid to keep with the natural flow of the circle of life.

\- There is just one, more than perfect! – Whispered the blond that already was beside him above the water. It was impossible to the human hearing them, since, even if they already had thousands of years there and they kept thinking the sound of the sea was part of the waving water and not part of their voices. – I’ll leave it to you Iggs. Good luck! –

Ignis saw him disappear in a splashdown, without believing that Prompto just took him there and abandoned him without second thoughts or at least an explanation.

He intercalated his sight between the place his friend disappeared and the being from the Terrarium; there wasn’t even a single red point from the shiny scales of the other. He was completely alone.

He decided to analyze the human. It couldn’t be harder that in paper. It was only that, to attract the human to the edge of the boat and pull him into the water. Only few words to attract him, only that.

He took a deep breath, the air irritating the roof of his mouth, mixing with his throat giving him the sensation of dry sand dragging among that path, totally unaccustomed to those places.

Ignis got a bit closer with more security to the wooden island and in silence flanked the object to inspect his prey.

His skin was amazingly pale, reflecting the spiderwebs that the foam drew on the marine surface. It reminded him the moon and how it projected over the water, a clear reflection, perfect and deliciously delicate that invited you to try to get it, even if you knew it was unattainable.

He had short black hair, dark like a starless night. A pair of raven colored locks framed his beautiful face, fascinating him like a magnet slowly nearer every time.

Finally, with the hands over that boat, he noted the features of his-soon-to-be capture. His perfectly straight nose, as if it was carved in ivory, that raised over a pair of charming lips that looked predisposed to smile in between secrets. His body was a business apart, that Ignis refused to look, captivated without any explanations to his face, specially to those gorgeous eyes that hid behind that pair of dark eyelashes that acted like discreet curtains.

His tail started agitating under the water without him being able to control it and decided that, before he start being noticeable for that human for that, he would start that farce once and for all.

He murmured a simple charm and his rebel tail gave way to a pair of legs that immediately after got its own fabric prison the humans use to wear, ashamed of their own nature.

\- Thanks heavens! A boat! – He exclaimed loud enough, pretending he was barely hanging to dear life, holding into the primitive object. – Could you **_please_** help me? My ship wrecked and I…-

The human twisted to face him instantly and it was at that moment when Ignis knew he fucked up.

There wasn’t anything easy in all that. It wouldn’t be a _piece of cake._ He royalty fucked it up, because that human wasn’t going to be his pray at all.

The man had eyes like the nocturn sea. Deep and full of faraway stars, fathomless, mysterious… flawless. That look pierced his inside and with that minuscule instant when they disappeared when he blinked, Ignis understood finally how it was to be incapable of breathing.

He wouldn’t be his pray at all. In fact,…Ignis was sure, he would be his.

The second that froze time shattered in a million of pieces when the guy used his fishing rod to hit something near him and with all the oxygen that were blessed enough to be in his lungs, screamed something that, he was almost sure, must be another name:

\- GLADIO! GLADIO WAKE UP! THERE IS SOMEONE IN THE WATER! HELP ME! –

Ignis didn’t had anytime to disappear. From one moment to another he were removed from the water by a sudden force and now, he was in the floor of that boat.

\- Are you ok? – He kneeled in front of him like a real human fairytale prince charming and those eyes that started the symphony of his imminent destruction were so close that he couldn’t keep one single thought in a coherent way.

\- Dammit Noctis! I almost had a heart attack! Couldn’t you at least be more discreet? Your father - _and mine-_ are gonna kill me if they know I brought you a third time! – He understood perfectly their language thanks to that charm, so he allowed himself to analyze the other earthbound rapidly. He was much taller and well built, marked by a distinctive pattern in his skin, as if he was property bounded to one master forever. His husky voice was loud and seemed to call for a storm, looking for troubles where there wasn’t any. His face wasn’t anything like the other, toughed by Aurinko and sprinkled with a patriarch beard that didn’t convinced him at all of his hypothetical status.

But little his attention remained on him, the weird word that should be the name of the one with the oceanic eyes, calling for his soul.

\- Noctis. – The name appeared on his lips like a curse. It tingled all over his skin with soft touches like feathers and yet, it bit merciless claiming him. Was that really what other finfolk felt when they met a pray?

His attention was centered on him and without understanding why, his body started to suffer of a scorching heat that came from inside him.

\- Are you ok? - the younger repeated, concerned. - You seem a bit red. – His hand was touching his face now, surprisingly soft, specially for someone who obviously used such rudimentary tools; and Ignis had this awful and intense need to go back to the water and bail on everything, abandoning that quest, because feeling like his heart was twisting in his ribcage that way while looking at him, was definitely not normal.

It was maybe at that instant when Ignis lost something in exchange of that magic he was so desperately trying to maintain, because suddenly, the thought of stop seeing Noctis was so impossible, that resulted painful.


	3. This is what "Love" means to me.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A single look, a single second. Ignis and Noctis can finally be alone, at least for a while.

The first time he stepped on land wasn’t as exotic as he imagined it, but again, maybe it was still that he felt he was floating in the water…or maybe this time was space. The night in those deep eyes that now, he needed to only look at him. He pretended to walk with him, nevertheless, Noctis, who didn’t seem very convinced of his wellbeing, insisted to carry him by the arm, with a strength and tenderness that also seemed impossible.

_Maybe some finfolk are allergic to humans._

He thought, trying to explain to himself that temperature that kept rising without mercy, inside him. And just like that, he lost notion of the path that ended abruptly, in front of an ostentatious wooden door that was chiseled to be a master piece by itself, crowned by an arc of bright blue flowers.

 

Blue. Like Noctis’ eyes.

 

He blinked again and the sweetest and most captivating song he ever heard, transported him through time and space in a way no charm could ever do.

Suddenly the light of the star that they called sun woke him caressing his face while the mattress under him molded to his body with warm and patience.

He turned his head slowly, feeling a tranquility and belonging that hugged him from inside, giving him the sensation of being outside of his body; a murmur that made his soul vibrate with that same melody claiming his attention.

\- Are you awake? – He heard himself ask to the familiar weight that was adorably pressed on his chest.

\- Maybe. – The voice that he could hear through eternity responded, playfully. – Maybe I am still sleep. –

The hand of the prince stroked him without hesitation or shame over his naked torso and up to his right cheek, cupping it and dragging him so he could get near his lips. Lips that he would never deny.

Ignis couldn’t believe how he ended up in there. It required just an instant, a simple gesture, a single look. Only that was necessary to fall hopelessly in love with Noctis.

\- Ignis. -His name was pronounced, and if it was an incantation he responded immediately, even if his sight was still glued to the magic movement of those lips. – What are we going to do? –

He rolled over him and his black hair hanged at both side of his face framing the divinity of the constellation that his beauty was. He couldn’t think in any other place to live or exist beside underneath that man. The green of his own eyes glimmered with the mix of ideas that were both sweet and naughty.

\- Whatever. – He murmured tenderly hugging him by the neck, adoring him.

\- Whatever? – Noctis repeated, confused, the covers sliding among his back, exposing his bare skin.

\- Yes. – He tangled his hands in the hair of the raven haired one and smiled to him, the love that burned every cell of his existence traveling through that smile. Through the adoration of that very look. The lack of the special glasses that he created in order to make a window that simulated his vision underwater, making his eyes highlight, full of new life and happiness. – Whatever its needed to keep being by your side. –

\- Ignis… - The young heir to the throne called again, sighing lovingly. – The finfolk aren’t very happy that you are still up here with me…and my father… _or any of the royal guard_ , won’t allow me to stay with you in Finfolkaheem, and… -

\- Don’t say that, my prince. – He shushed in a whisper. – I wouldn’t take you down there. I could never keep you caged there, like a pet. You are more valuable to me that anything in the world. –

He got closer to him, sporting discreetly the muscles of his abdomen, a bless from his years in the ocean; to give him a kiss and end the doubts that surely swirled around the heart of his lover, making him anxious.

His lips parted reluctantly, merging each time they caressed at the smallest opportunity.

\- There could be a war, Iggy. – The nickname made him wanted to beg for more than a kiss, but he tried to concentrate into the matter, mind before lust. Even when his mouth touched his own, and those black eyelashes shadowing the addiction of his eyes filled with ambrosia in indigo, just like the day they met.

\- I don’t care what happens to the world as long as I can be with you. I don’t have a home that isn’t with you, Noct. You are my home, my universe. –

The color that conquest the pale face of Noctis would bring Promptos’ tail to shame. His only ally in that submarine city that seemed more like a dream than a part of his past.

He took his face with both hands, preventing him from avoiding his stare. Noctis put his hands over his, the ring that Ignis gave him sometime ago, carved from a rare and unique stone that was only founded with magic and sacrifice, shining on the finger that presume him as his forever partner. Forever love.

\- Don’t say things that you can regret… - The blue-eyed man whispered, trying to ignore his position in between the taller one open legs.

\- Never. – He smiled wider, making him more space, knowing the conflict of attention both had, alone and without clothes. – I could never regret anything that has to do with you, Noct, my love. –

The prince closed the distance, incapable of keeping distance from his lover, kissing him passionately but slowly. Touching the only vestige of being a finfolk, marked as deep scars, hidden on his cheek behind the loose ashy locks to avoid more questions from strangers.


	4. To talk to God. (Epilogue)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fate is such a simple flower. We just have to look in the right place.

And outside Regis contemplated the ocean looking for a wat to allow his only son to continue in that happiness bubble that he founded in that not so mythical creature.

\- Your Majesty. – A deep and familiar voice called Regis, who only made a soft recognizing sound to address him. – Wouldn’t be easier and safer to ask… the merman…-the muttered without conviction, still in denial that such creature was not only real but dating the future king. - … that he goes back to his own kind? -

\- And keep my son away from the love of his life? – A warm laugh that made his chest quiver, tickling him under the fancy suit he was wearing. – It’s a wise suggestion, but I would have to decline, Cor. –

His sight followed the vine that hugged the tower with an only window facing that way, where Noctis and Ignis probably were loving each other without any discretion, as they were quite inconspicuous in public. Giving each other longing stares filled with undying love, only holding hands when no one was looking, stealing chaste kisses behind lonely corners in the halls, so no one would know, so no one will intervene between them and their forbidden union for those who wouldn’t recognize true love when they see it.

He remembered the love he felt for the mother of the prince, who, admitting it or not, still was pulsating inside him, running through his veins, comforting him.

Up there, where the two impossible lovers existed without anyone in the middle, the only witnesses were two flowers tangled within each other, the blue and the violet resembled the color of the prince’s eyes and the true color of the finfolk tail. Demonstrating that, with magic or science, that love that was forbidden to that world, was known and blessed for the same gods that _punished_ the others, in an eagerness to make those two finally find each other.


End file.
